Bob Woodward Book and Cognitive Dissonance? Confusion? What is Happening?

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There's a huge feeling among conservatives that they've gotten the short end of the stick, politically, for the last eight years, especially from the mainstream media. And not just a little bit, either. You hear constantly the quote from Barack Obama about "Bitterly clinging to guns and religion" and the one from Hillary about Trump supporters being "A basket of Deplorables". The name "Bitter clinger" and "Deplorable" are worn as badges of pride by many. Both sides have set up a "We vs They" mentality among followers, and neither side wants to talk to the other, just denigrate and scorn the opposing side. Hey, when you call more or less half the electorate "Deplorable", there are attitudes that are going to be influenced on both sides, and that has consequences.
Trust me, these folks? They see the faults and foibles of the man. They aren't blind. But he's their champion. He infuriates the liberals and that's good enough for them.

OK, first of all, Hillary didn't call all Trump voters deplorables. She said they included a "basket of deplorables," and anyone who's seen Charlottesville and subsequent developments would be outright lying if they said these *particular* supporters aren't "deplorable."

And I seriously disagree with "[b]oth sides have set up a "We vs They" mentality among followers, and neither side wants to talk to the other, just denigrate and scorn the opposing side." I think mainstream Democrats and liberals have bent over backward to try to debate issues. it's rarely worked. People have just gotten sick of the endless trotting out of "Virginia coalminers, who are the HEART of America," as if people of other backgrounds were lesser Americans.

Michael Avenatti went on Tucker Carlson's show looking for open debate. What he got was a chyron through the whole thing calling him a "creepy porn lawyer." Carlson even used the phrase signing off before Avenatti could counter.

When someone's goal is simply to be obnoxious to "liberals," how on earth are liberals to have open and honest interchange of ideas with them?